Based on the Lion locomotive the building of the

The Lion locomotive was built in 1838 by Messrs Todd, Kitson & Laird for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and sold 'Out of Service' to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board in 1859.
This is an interesting web site abut the locomotive. https://lionlocomotive.org.uk/

On the 9th February 2022 I placed an order with Reeses 2000 for plans, castings and boiler kit for the Titfield Thunderbolt locomotive in 5" gauge.

This web site chronicles my build for each day of activity on the locomotive !!

links to pages

Page 1 analysis of castings	Page 2 9th Feb 2022 YouTube lists 10th Feb Castings arrived 13th Feb Volumes 109 109 and 110 delivery by Tom 14th Feb Started scanning articles 15th Feb More scanning 16th Feb More scanning and arrival of a parcel of steel from Reeves 17th Feb Listing of parts ordered from the Laser cutters 18th Feb Scale conversion template made	Page 3 20th Feb 2022 Metal parts blued with marking out liquid 22nd Feb timber from workshop found to make former for boiler flange plates 23rd Feb Tender steel considered 24th Feb considering the motion plate 25th Feb watching YouTube videos 26th Feb more consideration 27th Feb Considered the boiler construction 28th Feb Silver solder ordered Order for laser cut part made to Model Engineers Laser Ltd 1st March 2022 Metal for tube plate marked out 3rd March Flanging of tube plate 5th March purchase of new jig saw to cut metal 6th March Flange plate cleaned up.	Page 4 7th March 2022 marking out of another boiler plate 8th March first hole cut with jig saw 12th March Start of the machining of the driving wheels 14th March attention to lathe 15th March more wheel turning 16th March More wheel turning 17th March Driving wheels (3) finished to size.	Page 5 19th March 2022 New measuring gauge used 20th March marking out prior to boring the cylinders 21st March Boring out cylinders 23rd March Ports marked out 24th March Ports machined 25th March Machined the steam ports
Page 6 26th March 2022 End caps 28th March End caps again 29th March - 3rd April Fitting DRO to mill 4th - 9th April more of fitting of DRO 10th - 12th April more fitting DRO 13th April final part of fitting the DRO 16th April machining top to Steam Chest 17th April More of Steam Chest top	Page 7 17th April Steam Chest 18th April all done steam chest machining 19th April marking out the steam chest top 20th April marking out of top 21st April Centre punched 22nd tapping size Holes drilled 23rd more tapping holes and clearance holes drilled 26th bolts cut short as studding, exhaust hole drilled 27th Steam chest spacer 30th April marking out cross drilling 3rd May drilling exhaust cross ports	Page 8 4th May 2022 marking out the inlet ports 7th May setting up for drilling steam ways 10th May replacement and final wheel castings arrived and was machined. 25th May more machining of wheels 26th More machining of driving wheels 27th finishing the driving wheels and bringing the tender wheel to over all size	Page 9 28th May 2022 amending the plan for trailing wheels. Finishing off the tender wheel profiles Machined the Trailing Wheels ready to bring to diameter and profile 29th May Trailing wheels profiled completed. All wheel completed except for final fettling 30th May Fettling 31st May Repairs to Dynamometer Car 4th June checking concentricity of the 3 jaw self centering chuck making the tender axles and cross drilling Similarly making the trailing axle 5th June machining the driving axle without crank 7th June tidying up some of the flashing on the wheels	Page 10 10 June 2022 considering the crank axle and cranks 14th June Completed sorting out the castings and adding photos to page 1 16th June considering the eccentrics 23rd June Eccentrics blanks cut from bar and one machined. 25th June two more eccentrics machined. 26th All eccentrics machined and marked for the offset final eccentric made and all marked for the offset hole 29th June considering the eccentric straps 2nd July Suds pump repair 6th July the lost eccentric found !! 23 July Considering the boiler again 24 August considering the machining of the Eccentric straps
Page 11 30th Aug 2022 Started the machining of the Eccentric Straps 31 Aug all four eccentrics straps part machined	Page 12 8th September 2022 As a mark of respect work on my loco was suspended until after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II which took place on 19th September 2022 RIP QEII 1st October Re-start of the build with the eccentric straps 3rd Oct tapping the holes 4th Oct cutting in half	Page 14 10th Oct 22 boring offset in eccentric 13th Oct 22 the next eccentric bored	Page 15 Re-start of the build 1 April 2023 I cut up the necessary steel for the loco frames and for the 8 angle pieces. 3rd April Deciding where to place the holes in the angle pieces. 8th April Marking out of the cylinder support brackets. 22nd April holes drilled in plates	Page 16 22nd April second side fitting to cylinder block all necessary drilling and taping done and bolts fitted. 25th April Drilling the angle pieces 25 April The remaining 32 holes were drilled in the angle pieces. 27 April working out what to do with the motion plate. 28th April a bad day !! 29th April The cylinder supports were joined to the motion plates.
Page 17 29th April continued the four corner fixed 30th April the angles to support the cylinder block are glued 1st May 2023 the final angle pieces drill and the chassis assembled and turned the correct way up Considered the next pieces the horn plates 2nd May 2023 the horns were glued together. Making out fluid applied 3rd May 2023 the position of the horns was marked out. Considering the material needed and rivets 5th May 2023 made up M3 to 3/8" UNC for new mill cutters 8th May 2023 the remaining holes in the axles horns drilled.	Page 18 8th May 2023 the next stage will be machining the axle boxes. 9th May 2023 the plan for the 5" axles box extracted from plan. 10th May 2023 The recesses in the axle bows was completed. 14th May 2023 Trailing axles boxes machined. The crank black were machine to size. 18th May 2023 The crank blanks ready for drilling. 19th May 2023 Cranks reamed out to size. 20th May 2023 four fresh piece of crank steel were cut ready to machine. 22nd may 2023 with the arrival in the post from RDG tool of my centre finder the procedure and set up was checked ready to do machining! 30th May 2023 the cranks were drilled.	Page 19 31st May 2023 Considering the crank axle. 1st June 2023 the two cranks were put together with their centre pieces. 3rd June 2023 the remaining parts of the crank axle machine and one part has adhesive applied. 5th June 2023 Remade part I dropped on the floor and completed the eccentric centres. 7th June 2023 Eccentrics drilled and tapped M4 23rd June 2023 drilling holes of oil way in eccentric sheaves 1st July 2023 Fitting of axle horns to frame steel. 7th July 2023 Supply of steel arrived and more done to horns 9th July 2023 parts cut for trailing horn 13th July 2023 leading horns soldered 14th July 2023 a bit of filing done	Page 20 7th August recovering from a trip to hospital. 29th December not yet re-started build !!!